Jerotej Račanin ( sr-Cyrl, Јеротеј Рачанин; c. 1650 – after 1727) was a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

writer and transcriber of church manuscripts and books. After visiting

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in 1704 he wrote a book about his travel experiences from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

and back.

Biography

At the time of the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the Rača monastery was devastated. The Turks several times carried out reprisals against the monks of Rača for engaging in educational activities and promoting Serbian culture, copying church manuscripts and books. Eventually, the monks were forced to take their manuscripts and books with them and with Arsenije III Čarnojević join in the Christian forces in northern Serbia at Zenta, and settled in the uninhabited regions bordering Hungary and deeper inland. They moved to the new regions and resumed their work at

Szentendre Szentendre () is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis Mountains, Pilis-Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the :hu: Szentendrei Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, Open- ...

, near

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, and assumed as their surname the name of their former monastery. Among the several who distinguished themselves as monk-scribes and illuminators of old manuscripts were Jerotej Račanin,

Hristifor Račanin Hristifor Račanin ( sr-Cyrl, Христофор Рачанин; c. 1595 – 1670) was a Serbian scribe working on ornately decorated manuscripts. He is best known for ''Psaltir s posledovanjem'', written in 1645. He was the abbot of the Rača mona ...

, Kiprijan Račanin,

Gavril Stefanović Venclović Gavril is a variant of the name Gabriel, may refer to: *Gavril Atanasov, Macedonian icon painter from Berovo in the 19th century *Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni (1746–1821), Romanian clergyman who served as Metropolitan of Moldavia *Gavril Balint (born ...

Simeon Račanin Simeon Račanin ( sr-Cyrl, Симеон Рачанин; 1676–1700) was a Serbian Orthodox monk and translator. He is mentioned in 1700 along with several other monks at the Rača monastery, all wearing the epithet '' Račanin'': Kiprijan Račan ...

Čirjak Račanin Čirjak is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Frane Čirjak (born 1995), Croatian footballer * Lovre Čirjak (born 1991), Croatian footballer {{DEFAULTSORT:Cirjak Surnames of Croatian origin ...

Teodor Račanin Teodor Račanin ( sr-Cyrl, Теодор Рачанин; 1500 – 1560) was a writer and Serbian Orthodox monk of the Račan Scriptorium School mentioned in Ottoman sources of 16th century literature. Biography Monk-scribe Teodor Račanin was given ...

and many others. From

, Jerotej Račanin settled at Velika Remeta, a cultural center of the Serbs in the 16th and the 17th centuries, and the home of a manuscript and book copying and illuminating school. Here Jerotej, who lived in this monastery in 1721, wrote "A Journey to Jerusalem", the first travel book in modern Serbian literature.

References

Sources

* Translated and adapted from Jovan Skerlić's ''Istorija nove srpske književnosti'' (Belgrade, 1914, 1921), pages 27–28 {{DEFAULTSORT:Racanin, Jerotej 1650s births 1720s deaths 18th-century Serbian writers Serbian travel writers Habsburg Serbs Refugees of the Great Turkish War